Question: I see by your questions and answers you state that Catholics are Christians. How would you define what a Christian is? How do you explain the Council of Trent? Maryology? Works, rather than grace?

According to the Bible, a Christian is one who believes that Jesus is the Christ (1 John 5:1). A person becomes a Christian through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). And the Christian can know that because of this faith, he or she has eternal life (John 3:16); 1 John 5:13). Many hold the mistaken opinion that Vatican II changed much of what Rome had believed. It did not. In fact, it reaffirmed all of the main beliefs.

We must remember that by far the larger percentage of those professing to be Catholic are not Christian, since most Catholics hold to Roman Catholic doctrine on salvation and have never trusted Christ alone for eternal life.

Marty

Answer: Dear Marty,

Your questions/opinions seem to be 1) What is a Christian? 2) The vast majority of Catholics aren’t – because of the Council of Trent.

A Christian is one who believes in Jesus Christ and lives according to his teachings. That’s the basic definition. The more complex one is that a Christian is someone who doesn’t’ drink, smoke, go to movies, or dance – who believes exactly like I do on all doctrinal issues, whether they have been considered core issues of the historic and orthodox Christian church down through time or not (i.e. he or she must be a dispensational believing pre-mill, pre-trib accepting, rapture and baptism by immersion believing, etc., etc., etc.,).

I am well aware of the unbiblical teachings of the Catholic church – their view on justification that you explain below, Maryology, etc. I am also able to look at the sad state of Christianity as a whole today, and the focus on many issues which are leading people away from the core teachings of the gospel – am I to conclude that the best selling books, the most popular and well-known Christian television programs, etc. – that these are all "better" and "superior" to a person whom I have never met who happens to worship in a Catholic church? Jesus’ teachings about the plank in our eye and the speck of sawdust in our brothers’ come to mind. What would you decide about the eternal state of Mother Teresa, for example?

We don’t really know exactly who is a Christian, do we? We can’t go around and identify everyone we see as Christian and non-Christian – and thank God we can’t, because knowing history and holy wars, we would see unbelievable persecution and bloodshed if humans could do that.

You state that the vast majority of Catholics hold to Catholic doctrine and have never trusted Christ for eternal life. How do you know that? Do most Catholics follow and believe and understand all doctrine their church teaches and proclaims? What about birth control, for example? Documented statistics say that most Catholics don’t understand and/or follow much of what their church believes. So, are they all non-Christian? 99%? 90%? Who decides? My Bible says God decides. I’m happy about that – hope you are too.

How about Protestant churches – and specifically the ones that we might be comfortable with? Is everybody who attends those churches saved? What about pew warmers who were ‘born" in that church and comfortable there, and attend as social/family obligation?

I don’t understand – from the Bible – what you are trying to say. I know people who are Catholic, and if I had to decide whether they are Christian or not, I would say that they are.

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht